MERGER LEAVES LEAGUES LOCKED IN LIMBO
THE FA have stepped in to quell what had threatened to become a febrile row between two leagues negotiating a merger.
Project South West, a bid to bring together the Western and South West Peninsula leagues with the creation of an extra division to cut travelling at Step 5, has in-principle backing from the FA.
It is an attempt to solve a problem emanating from the latest reshuffle of the National League System with three Step 6 divisions – Western League Division One and the two in the South West Peninsula League – all feeding into the Western League Premier Division at Step 5, stretching its footprint from Bristol deep into a remote area of England.
Bitton withdrew from the Premier Division in October citing travel, stating they could get to Leeds as quickly as they could reach Mousehole in Cornwall.
However, problems with the new plan surfaced on Monday when Phil Hiscox, secretary of the South West Peninsula League, made public a letter he had sent to Laurence Jones, The FA’s head of the National League System, highlighting issues around how the new league would be administered and by whom.
Hiscox felt the Western League’s proposals amounted to a “takeover of football in the south west” rather than a “merger of equals”, highlighting only three of the nine officers of the new administration would come from the SWPL.
The Western League responded by saying its board “strongly beone lieves in devolving roles… across a number of individuals”, adding: “Combining these critical functions within one role is not what we believe to be good practice.”
The plan is to have two divisions of 18 at Step 5 from next season with clubs currently fighting for extra promotion places at Step 6 and Step 5 clubs hankering for a solution to rising travel bills.
Committed
Mercifully, things calmed down by the end of the week with Hiscox and John Pool, chairman of the Western League, telling The NLP they remain committed to getting back around the table with support from the FA. Both leagues have been invited to put forward what Hiscox described as “clarification on a few points” this week ahead of fresh talks.
He did not wish to prejudge the outcome but said: “The talks with the steering committee had reached a stalemate and although some of the statements issued were regrettable – from both, not side or the other – the stalemate was real. Now we have to knuckle down to get the project back on track.”
Pool said The FA had “laid out ground rules” and would be “heavily involved” from now on.
“The good thing is the negotiations are back on the table. We are hopeful we can reach a conclusion with the involvement of the FA,” he said. “I think it is fair to say everyone wants it to happen, it is just a case of dealing with the mechanics of it all.
“We are all going into an area of administration, running leagues with potentially 90 clubs, that no one at this level of football would ever have experienced. That all needs to be kept in context.”
He added “an awful lot” had been achieved “in a short timeframe” prior to sticking points emerging in January.
“Round trips of 400 miles at this level of football just cannot work so we have to find a solution, which is what this whole exercise is about,” he said.